In the hair treatment art, often involving use of hydrogen peroxide as a commonly used reagent, in the fine art of bleaching, and in dyeing and curling human hair (so-called permanent waving), the concurrent deleterious effects of this important, but needed, reagent have long been recognized as entailing chemical irritation of human skin.
In the known methods of coloring hair, the peroxide serves to develop color in oxidative dyes, in situ, and to neutralize sulfhydryl anions in the reduction of keratinic materials, like human hair. In both reactions, the reaction of peroxide is not readily controlled, as it can act to both increase or decrease the intensity of the staining reaction, should excess peroxide remain in the hair. The usual practice, with somewhat uneven results, is to rinse the hair in an effort to remove the residual peroxide. Catalase is a naturally occurring enzyme in biological systems, being a peroxidase enzyme that converts a peroxide to water and oxygen.
The same peroxide and catalase enzyme are used in waving of hair. After the peroxide neutralizes the reducing agent, as noted, a water rinse is used to remove the residual peroxide. However, any residual peroxide remaining acts as both an oxidizing agent and a reducing agent. As a reducing agent, it can break keratinic disulfide bonds and damage the waving process. As an oxidizing agent, it produces reactive oxygen radicals, such as hydroxyls, which can destroy hair fibers.
It is known that the skin-adverse effects can be ameliorated by employing an enzyme that could arrest the oxidase reaction, before it contacts the hands, of the beautician, and/or the scalp skin of the client. G. Kalopissis et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,644 (1978) taught protecting the skin with cosmetic compositions containing a super oxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme. Certain SOD enzymes are extracted from marine bacterial strains. Disclosed were foam dye compositions and hair dyes in cream formulations. No other adjuvants for such active ingredient were taught. The benefit was in applying to the hair, an SOD enzyme in an effective amount, to maintain the keratinic structure of the hair, but not of the scalp-skin. Park et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,644 (1992) also relates to peroxide destroying compositions, such as catalase, but involves using a barrier coating to delay release of the catalase, for a time period after the formulation is contacted with the peroxide containing aqueous medium.
The enzyme formulations are in core tableted forms and the coating is of a water-soluble, barrier material, which is conveniently a polymeric material like cellulose derivative. The disclosed utility is for the disinfection of contact lenses. There is no useful material suggested by Park, et al, to enhance the peroxide-reducing power of the catalase enzyme; nor would such solid, unit dosage forms of such an enzyme have any application in the hair treating and scalp protection process.
It is known that catalase can be deactivated by certain toxic heavy metals and organic compounds known to interfere with biological electron transport.
In the prior art, use of an alcoholic extract of Baker's yeast (Sacharomyces Cerevisiae) is reported to stimulate respiration of skin, in liver and in live yeast cells. Later Kreke et al reported (1945) that activity of horseradish-derived peroxidase could be increased by addition of such a yeast extract. One interesting incidental finding was the protective effect that the yeast extract had on the action of known enzyme inhibitors in the respiratory chain, such as azides, and cyanides. The action of such inhibitors may also have some effect on the addition of catalase and other peroxidase inhibitors.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a skin protective ointment, or hand cream, containing catalase enzyme now in a form useful against the peroxide compound side effects on human skin.
It is a still further object to provide a skin protective ointment which enhances the peroxide-reducing activity of catalase in the presence of toxic metals and organics that inhibit electron transport.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a catalase containing ointment that will protect the skin with a water resistant barrier, while decomposing the excess (residual) active peroxide not already used up in the hair bleaching process.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a method for more uniformly dyeing hair in a limited time by admixing of an augmented natural catalase compound activity into an oxidative hair dye, for hair dyeing with the peroxide ingredient.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a composition that may be sprayed or rinsed in the hair which will neutralize and destroy residual peroxides, following the coloring or other chemical treatments of hair that employ hydrogen peroxides, or other peroxides, in the hair treatment process.